Maine ballot issue ruling expected Monday

PORTLAND, Maine (AP)&nbsp- Maine’s supreme court is expected to rule Monday on Democrats’ efforts to remove Senate hopeful Herbert Hoffman’s name from the November ballot.

The secretary of state already ruled that Hoffman collected enough signatures to appear on the ballot, and a Superior Court justice agreed. But the Democratic Party appealed to the state’ s highest court.

The party contends Hoffman violated rules because was not present when three registered voters signed one of his petitions. Democrats fear Hoffman could draw votes away from their party’ s nominee, Rep. Tom Allen, who’ s attempting to unseat Republican Sen. Susan Collins.